270 lines
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Plaintext
270 lines
15 KiB
Plaintext
From: govegan@uclink.berkeley.edu (Scott Andrew Selby)
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Newsgroups: talk.politics.drugs,alt.drugs
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Subject: Why Drug Free Revised
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Date: 1 May 1994 23:15:06 GMT
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Message-ID: <2q1d5q$8v0@agate.berkeley.edu>
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Thanks for people's feedback. Much of this second edition has been changed.
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If you like this, please let me know. If you have any disagreements, please
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send me specific, constructive criticism. E-mail me directly
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(idealforliving@uclink.Berkeley.EDU) as I am not subscribed to any
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newsgroups or mailing lists.
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Before passing judgement on this, first read all of it as it is coming at
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the issue from a completely new perspective. This an attempt to disseminate
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information about the political effects of drug use from a liberal
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perspective - it is NOT about the issue of drug legalization and does not
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advocate prohibition, nor is it a personal attack on drug users. Instead, it
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discusses the impact of alcohol, tobacco, and other drugs on people's
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health, world and U.S. politics, and the environment.
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If you like this file, send a SASE to the address at the end of the file for
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a hard copy and pass this e-mail file on to anyone who would be interested.
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***************************************************************************
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__ ___ ____ _____ ___
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\ \ / / |__ _ _ | _ \ _ __ _ _ __ _ | ___| __ ___ __|__ \
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\ \ /\ / /| '_ \| | | | | | | | '__| | | |/ _` | | |_ | '__/ _ \/ _ \/ /
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\ V V / | | | | |_| | | |_| | | | |_| | (_| | | _|| | | __/ __/_|
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\_/\_/ |_| |_|\__, | |____/|_| \__,_|\__, | |_| |_| \___|\___(_)
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|___/ |___/
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******** Personal and Political Responsibility in Daily Life ************
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Recreational drug use is one of the most widespread and
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destructive problems facing us today. Much like other matters of
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lifestyle, drug use is not contained entirely within either the private
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or the public realm, but lies somewhere in between. The ramifications
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of the purchase and consumption of a beer and a cigarette include, for
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instance, not only obvious harm to the consumer<65>s body, but also tacit
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financial support of the political causes to which the given
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alcohol/tobacco corporation contributes, often right-wing in nature.
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The successful election campaigns of North Carolina Senator Jesse
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Helms in 1984 and 1990, for example, were both funded in large part
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by profits from the alcohol and tobacco industries, of which the right-
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wing congressman has been an ardent supporter.1 There is an element
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of irony in this; the drugs that are used in the name of youthful
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rebellion end up benefiting the extreme-right<68> against which the
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rebellion claims to be pitted in the first place. From the point of view
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of activism, drugs only contribute to maintaining the status quo.
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Those who are opposed to the current system often believe that there
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is something rebellious about consuming illegal drugs. The reality is
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that by purchasing and using drugs, they support the establishment
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which they dislike so much. Their consumption also minimizes the
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volume of their dissent by neutralizing their activist-tendencies.
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From a health/social perspective things look even worse.
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While political setbacks can in the end be overcome, nothing can be
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done to bring back the four-hundred thousand people who die in the
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United States as a result of cigarette consumption alone every year,
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during which hundreds of thousands more fall victim to other
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alcohol- and other drug-related deaths.
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HEALTH
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Perhaps the most obvious argument against recreational
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drugs is the toll their use takes on the human body. Cigarettes have
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been shown to cause lung cancer; cancer of the pharynx, larynx,
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esophagus, bladder, and pancreas; chronic bronchitis; peptic ulcers;
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emphysema; and various birth defects (if consumed by a pregnant
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woman).2 Moderate alcohol consumption increases one's risk of
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certain cancers threefold,3 and use by a pregnant woman can cause
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birth defects.4 A single marijuana cigarette, often thought to be
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harmless, causes as much lung damage as five tobacco cigarettes.5
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Marijuana also often leads to a long term lack of motivation and
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apathy among regular users.6 And underlying almost every drug<75>s
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list of individual problems is physical dependency (including
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marijuana, commonly thought to be only psychologically addictive).7
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New drugs continue to be created whose health effects are not fully
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known.
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SOCIAL RAMIFICATIONS
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An individual<61>s drug habit has a profound effect upon the
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community of people with which he/she interacts on a daily basis.
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For instance, second hand smoke alone is responsible for the deaths
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of fifty-thousand Americans each year.8 Drunk drivers kill an
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additional seventy-thousand people at the same rate.
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It is clear that while under the influence of any mind-
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altering drug, one has decreased control of one<6E>s actions. This affects
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both the individual and those around him/her. It is often the main
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factor in occurrences of assault, sexual abuse, domestic violence, and
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physical abuse in general. Date rape is often caused by aggressive
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sexual behavior brought on by drug consumption. A complete list of
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social problems exacerbated by drug use is too long to include in a
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pamphlet of this length. Even if one has never been a perpetrator in a
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drug-related incident, one is still responsible for such occurrences (to
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some degree), through drug consumption or support thereof.
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POLITICAL ISSUES
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Unfortunately, while use of illegal drugs is combated,
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consumption of alcohol and tobacco is promoted. Corporations
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consistently deny that the products they sell are dangerous. Cigarette
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manufacturers, for example, claim that cigarettes are neither a threat
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to the consumer<65>s health nor addictive,9 despite scientific proof to the
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contrary. After a Philip Morris research team concluded that
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nicotine is addictive in a 1983 report, the company forced a science
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journal to withdraw the resulting article.10 The fact is that cigarettes
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are at least as addictive as cocaine and heroin11 and their threat to
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public health is undeniable: studies have shown cigarettes to contain
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a horrifying array of substances, including acetone, carbon
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monoxide, methanol, ammonia, hydrogen sulfide, insecticides, and
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benzene.12 In terms of public safety, the major tobacco corporations
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have for years had the technology to safeguard against fires caused
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by their products by making cigarettes that go out after a period of
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non-use, but still they put additives in cigarettes that increase the rate
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at which the product burns.13
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The federal government is not doing much to stop the public
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health threat caused by alcohol/cigarette consumption because
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corporations have the United States Congress in shackles, which take
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the form of gifts, contributions, and campaign funds.14 In the
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American South, where tobacco is an important industry,
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congressmen are forced to support the tobacco corporations or face
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expulsion from office. For this reason, government subsidies exist for
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tobacco growers that insure them a profit on their crops.15 The
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corporations placate the would-be opposition in government with
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money, which allows them to manufacture their products
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unquestioned. Indeed it is only a minority of government officials
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who have been fighting the tobacco industry.
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The products and their health-hazards, however, are only
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part of the picture. Almost all of the corporations that manufacture
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alcohol and cigarettes turn over a significant portion of their profits
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to special-interest groups that oppose civil-rights legislation and
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social programs. The Coors corporation, for example, has opposed
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the U.S. Civil Rights Act, affirmative action, the Equal Rights
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Amendment, U.S. labor unions, and has been guilty of severe
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environmental damage in Colorado. Perhaps most conspicuously they
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are the founders and primary financial backers of the Colorado-
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based Heritage Foundation: an anti-Semitic, racist, anti-civil rights,
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right-wing think tank.16 Coors is not alone in its reactionary
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pursuits. Henry Weinhard<72>s brewery, for example, has used profits
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from beer sales to fund Operation Rescue.
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It is the people who live in the worst conditions, (and thus
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have the greatest need to fight for social change), who most often
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become drug addicts, attempting to escape the troubled conditions of
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this world instead of working to change them. This serves the
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interests of those who run the country: they face no threat of
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rebellion as long as the disenfranchised are busily involved with
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drugs, e.g. the rampant alcohol abuse in Native American
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communities. In 1989, under President Bush, the government set up a
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highly-selective <20>War on Drugs<67>, which gave law enforcement
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officials free reign to abuse their authority among society<74>s urban
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underclass, while condoning the promotion of alcohol and other legal
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drugs in the same sector of society.
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Drug production is a waste of environmental resources.
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Food-stuffs, which in sharp contrast are important to produce, could
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be grown on the land used to grow and manufacture drugs. Coca
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plants (used in cocaine production) litter vast tracts of land in
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Central and South America, as do poppies (used for heroin
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production) in various Asian countries. California marijuana
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growers kill large numbers of deer, in some areas more than hunters,
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in an effort to protect their expensive crops.17 Tobacco production
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involves heavy use of wood, burned in order to <20>flue cure<72> the
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product. In Eastern Kenya, Pakistan, and heavily-forested Brazil, the
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effects of logging for the purposes of this aspect of cigarette
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production have already been felt. In fact, it is estimated that one tree
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is felled per 300 cigarettes made.18 In addition, significant pollutants
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are created with the production of cocaine, alcoholic beverages, and
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heroin. The packaging involved for drugs is also wasteful, especially
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that of cigarettes, which involves plastic products such as filters, 533
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billion of which are disposed of in the U.S. each year.19
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Problems in the non-industrialized world brought on by
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legal drug corporations as well as illegal drug producers are another
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disturbing consequence of the drug business. Tobacco and alcohol are
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sold to poor people in developing nations often without any
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warnings about negative health-effects, especially severe considering
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that the cigarettes sold there generally contain twice as much tar (the
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main carcinogen in cigarettes) as do those sold in developed
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nations.20 With cigarette sales waning in the United States, the major
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cigarette corporations have nearly doubled international sales.
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Philip Morris, the largest player in the U.S. tobacco industry, has
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increased its revenues abroad from $8.4 billion in 1989 to $15.7
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billion in 1993.21 Instead of improving their dire conditions, people
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in third world nations are encouraged to spend what little money
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they have on products that will make them more like members of the
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industrialized world. Cigarettes, for example, are promoted on
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television and billboards as a symbol of progress.22 The reality is
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that drug use only worsens living conditions in the non-
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industrialized world, where the drain on financial resources caused
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by a drug habit is magnified. Unfortunately, many of the targeted
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consumers do not have the opportunity to make an informed decision
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about the products that may eventually kill them.
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Legal and illegal drug production in the developing world
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affects not only consumers, but workers as well. They are abused by
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employers, earning scant wages picking cash crops that they cannot
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use for food. The employers, especially those who manufacture and
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traffic illegal drugs, often resort to violent means of protecting their
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industry. In some countries, most notably Columbia, the result is
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chaos. With the money obtained from selling illegal drugs, those
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involved in the trade have created a climate of corruption and
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violence throughout the non-industrialized world, as they have in
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many depressed areas of the developed world.
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ALTERNATIVES
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In the face of a corrupt industry, both in America and
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abroad, people must challenge the idea that illegal drugs should be
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treated separately from alcohol and tobacco, a distinction based
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upon the assumption that only illegal drugs are truly <20>drugs<67>. This
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way of thinking demonizes illicit drugs and at the same time makes
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licit drugs appear innocuous<75> hiding the fact that there is no real
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difference between the two categories. A prominent proponent of the
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legal/illegal mindset is <20>Partnership for a Drug-Free America<63>,
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which, in fact, is financed by the alcohol and tobacco industries. The
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ideas promoted by this group through print and television ads bolster
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the sales of the legal drug industry<72>s products by helping them
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maintain a good public image. They operate on the assumption that
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the public is gullible enough to believe that <20>drugs can<61>t be too bad if
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they are legal.<2E> Much too often, their strategy has worked.
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A change in personal lifestyle can be a slow process, but
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luckily there are many effective methods of ending one<6E>s drug habit. If
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you are addicted to drugs and want to quit, you can. Seek help or
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counseling if you need it. By being drug free, one boycotts both the
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various industries (legal and illegal) that produce drugs as well as
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the concept of drug-taking. Awareness and a change in personal
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lifestyle are both essential to effecting political change.
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ENDNOTES
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1 (White) pp. 56-69.
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2 The American Medical Association Encyclopedia of Medicine, Dr. Charles
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B. Clayman, Random House, 1989, pp. 991-992.
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3 You Are What You Drink, Allan Luks & Joseph Barbato, 1989, p.69
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4 Health and Wellness, Edlin Golanty, Jones and Bartlett Publishers, Fourth
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Edition, 1992, p. 292.
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5 Personal Health Choices, Sandra Smith, Jones & Bartlett Pub., 1990, p. 399.
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6 Clayman p. 665.
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7 ibid, p. 665.
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8 California Department of Public Health, 1994.
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9 <20>Blowing Smoke at Congress<73>, New York Times, April 24 , 1994, Editorial.
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10 <20>The Butt Stops Here<72>, Time, April 18, 1994 , p. 59.
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11 <20>Should Cigarettes be Banned?<3F>, U.S. News & World Report,4/18/94, p. 36.
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12 Golanty p. 304.
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13 (Whelan) pp. 151 and 164.
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14 (White) pp. 45-71.
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15 (Whelan) p. 147.
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16 (Bellant).
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17 <20>Pot Growers Killing California<69>s Wildlife<66>, International Wildlife, July/
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August 1985, p. 32.
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18 (Whelan) p. 172.
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19 Golanty p. 304.
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20 (Whelan) p. 170.
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21 <20>Smoke, Flame and Fire<72>, U.S. News & World Report, April 18, 1994, p. 47.
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22 (Whelan) p. 169.
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SELECTED BIBLIOGRAPHY/BOOKS TO READ
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Booze Merchants: The Inebriating of America. M Jacobson, R. Atkins, G.
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Hacker. CSPI Books, Washington D.C. 1983.
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Coors Connection R.Bellant. Political Research Associates, Cambridge, MA
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1990. (Bellant)
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Merchants of Death: The American Tobacco Industry L.C. White. Beech
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Tree Books, New York, NY 1988. (White)
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Smoking Gun: How the Tobacco Industry Gets Away With Murder E.M.
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Whelan. George F. Stickley Co, Philadelphia, PA 1984. (Whelan)
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Ask a local librarian for help borrowing these books or books on
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quitting specific substances. Please photocopy and distribute this pamphlet.
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For more information or if you want to help, send a self-addressed stamped
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envelope to:
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Ideal For Living
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PO Box 4353
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Berkeley, CA 94704-0353
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e-mail: idealforliving@uclink.Berkeley.EDU
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